CHICAGO -- With the Bears in desperate need of a starting safety heading into Thursday night's NFL draft and the top two safeties available, they selected cornerback Kyle Fuller out of Virginia Tech.

With Chicago expecting the obscure from Bears general manager Phil Emery in the first round, he went conventional. With many Bears fans hoping for a splash, they got a ripple.

Was boring better? Only time can judge fairly, but the Bears welcomed a player considered capable of contributing Week 1 to a revamped defense.

This wasn't a sexy pick. This was a safe, smart one. This was Emery answering the eternal question that asks what an NFL team does when it weighs a roster need against the highest-rated player on its board.

The highest-rated player wins every time. This time it was Fuller, whose football pedigree should ease his transition into Halas Hall and could add a dash of intrigue to a division rivalry. Fuller's brother, Corey, is a wide receiver for the Lions.

"It's an example of taking a player we really liked," Emery said.

At least it's not another example of a player Emery wants to teach a new position in the NFL. Wisely, Emery immediately ruled out converting Fuller to safety -- an idea he floated last week about cornerbacks with Fuller's size and skills.

"He is a corner," Emery said, and a football city sighed with relief.

In March, Emery re-signed cornerback Charles Tillman to a one-year contract. Two months later, he drafted his heir apparent.

Advertisement

The superlatives analysts used to describe Fuller after the Bears made him the 14th overall selection sounded similar to the things said about Tillman 11 years ago. Physical. Rangy. Tough. Complete.

At 5-foot-11 and 190 pounds, Fuller possesses the ideal skill set for the position Tillman played better than anybody in Bears history. In a less flattering comparison to Tillman, Fuller also will arrive with injury concerns after missing the final six games and the Senior Bowl with a sports hernia. Asked about any lingering concerns, Emery answered that "he had a good medical grade."

"I'm 100 percent healed and ready to go," Fuller added.

He will not go immediately into the starting lineup, not with Tillman and Tim Jennings established as Pro Bowl-caliber cornerbacks. But essentially Fuller qualifies as a 12th starter if he proves he can play the nickel position as well as Emery believes he can. Emery sounded impressed by the versatility Fuller showed in covering North Carolina tight end Eric Ebron, whom the Lions picked 10th, as capably as he defended quicker receivers in the slot.

In an evolving league in which tight ends run like wide receivers, a nickel back's job description stretches well beyond "playing the slot." Additionally, one of the first things Emery mentioned was Fuller's ability to play special teams, which the Bears value.

"I plan on coming in and help rebuild the defense," Fuller said.

The Bears used Isaiah Frey as the extra defensive back in the slot on passing downs last season after Kelvin Hayden was lost for the season, but neither Frey nor Hayden should stand in the way of a first-round draft pick. No defense as bad as the Bears' was drafts a player 14th overall to watch.

If Fuller shows he lacks the necessary skills to play the nickel role, then this quickly will become a pick worth questioning. How Fuller adapts to playing inside could be what determines whether his selection falls closer to Shea McClellin (bust in the making) or Kyle Long (Pro Bowler in progress) when judging Emery's first-round picks. How well Fuller's career stacks up to safeties Calvin Pryor (18th, Jets) and Ha Ha Clinton-Dix (21st, Packers) will be a measurement used to evaluate Emery too.

As the draft unfolded, things fell in such a way that the Bears nearly got a chance to draft Pittsburgh defensive tackle Aaron Donald, taken by the Rams at No. 13. That was a smaller surprise than Donald still being on the board after teams passed on him -- especially Lovie Smith's Buccaneers.

With three offensive tackles gone among the first 11 picks and the Jaguars stunning the league by selecting quarterback Blake Bortles at No. 3, the Bears saw so many defensive players fall that Emery said he had the choice of three of his six targets.

Choosing Fuller won't make screaming headlines but, quietly, should help the Bears defense make progress -- and that was a primary goal of this pick.